At the time of going to print, 569 Kerry Group milk suppliers have applied to its fixed milk price scheme, a spokesperson for the group told the Irish Farmers Journal.

This represents 20% of the Kerry supply base and has grown from 170 a week ago. Given the sharp increase in farmers applying to the scheme in a week, Kerry has decided to extend the deadline for another two weeks.

The initial deadline had been 29 September.

There are 3,300 dairy farmers supplying Kerry.

In August, Kerry announced the scheme, which will pay farmers a fixed milk price of 29.33c/l, excluding VAT (31c/l including VAT), for milk at 3.3% protein and 3.6% butterfat.

It will run for three years, from 2018 to 2020.

Meanwhile, Kerry announced last week that all of its suppliers are now Bord Bia Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme-certified.

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